The shooting theme this time was set as the 'entrance examination dream', and the core of the entire setting was to create a sense of suffocation and dreamcore atmosphere wrapped by academic pressure. What I wore was a classic white-and-blue sailor uniform, paired with a bright yellow scarf and white over-the-knee socks. To reflect that feeling of being trapped in a sea of test papers, we used a large number of discarded test papers and draft sheets, which not only covered the floor and desks, but were also suspended from the ceiling, windows, and surrounding walls using transparent fishing lines, forming a surreal illusion of paper suspended and dancing still in the air. A few red banners with inspirational slogans and award certificates with red stamps were pasted on the walls; these were all scavenged from second-hand markets, forming a strong contrast with the paper-filled room, acting not just as a visual color collision, but also as an emotional irony.
During the shooting, I constantly adjusted my state, trying to capture that emotion of fatigue, confusion, yet having no choice but to continue studying hard. One photo shows me lying on a desk holding a pencil, with thick review books for various subjects piled up next to me. This one actually took many tries because it was necessary to find that unguarded state of exhaustion. There are also a few photos of me sitting on the windowsill, surrounded by suspended white paper, with a dark blue night view outside the window and cool light shining in, making the sense of oppression very realistic. To increase the layering of the frame, I used my hand to lift up a test paper covered in notes and placed it in front of me; the backlight shining through the paper created an unreal, dreamlike feeling, which is also a commonly used expressive technique in the dreamcore style.
As a photography enthusiast, I tried various compositions and light-and-shadow designs in this shoot. The natural light in the corridor and classroom was quite strong, and we deliberately used the shading of curtains and windows to create high-contrast light-and-shadow effects. My favorites are those photos of sitting on the windowsill, where the cool tones outside and the warm indoor lighting formed a great contrast, and the side-backlight hitting the hair and clothing edges outlined clear contours while also showing the texture of the paper very well. Because the scene was relatively cluttered, I put a lot of thought into my standing and sitting postures, trying to let my body language guide the visual lines—such as the bending directions of knees and elbows, and the slight forward or backward leaning angles of the body—making the frame look more tense and full of story.
Actually, I usually shoot a lot of campus-style photos, but what I wanted to express this time was a bit more complex. It's not just about youth and sunshine, but more about that sense of powerlessness wrapped by external expectations during a specific stage. On-site, we didn't use very complex fill-light equipment, relying mainly on the natural light from outside the window and reflectors in the environment to supplement facial brightness, which preserves the original texture of the environment to the greatest extent. The post-processing color grading leaned towards low saturation and high contrast, adding a little film grain to make the overall atmosphere lean more towards real memory fragments. After the shoot ended, looking at the room full of paper scraps, I truly had the illusion of waking up from a dream, making it a very profound creative experience.